Does deciding to make five of your eight staff redundant in Purdah a major decision?

Question

The local parish council I am on has already started redundancy process without full council authorisation. They are trying to get that authorisation tonight in purdah. It is the outcome of a staffing review Full Council did give permission for, but we never discussed the results of the staffing review either.

Answer 1

What has purdah got to do with redundancies of staff? We do not have a purdah period announced as an election has not been called. Cannot see that even if it had been called it would not be a basis for redundancies of staff anyway as it is only a restriction of what can be said or promoted. If you are attempting to justify redundancies on these grounds then prepare yourself for big tribunal payouts.

Answer 2

The question, if it even is a question, illustrates a profound lack of understanding of the systems of staff review AND of the circumstances of "purdah."

Purdah: https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/sn05262/

There is no mention of a local council election in the OP but this might be assumed?

Assuming there IS a local council election purdah does not in any way restrict routine business of local government although there is a recommendation that contentious or sensitive issues might be avoided.

A staff review leading to a potential wholesale redundancy is a significant, long term planning and execution event which (confirmed in the OP) has already received a mandate - albeit a strange and somewhat illogical timeframe when considered against budget planning timelines.

Do you have local council elections 2 May 24?

If yes there may be a purdah period but it is important to understand what that actually means for your council.

It appears 'odd' that such a major decision as 5 staff redundancies (how many total staff are there?) should be implemented so close to an election but only those in the locale will know what the % chance of significant electoral change might be.